A Capital Time - London Loveliness

My gorgeous family spent last weekend in London. It was a fairly last minute plan - two weeks ago Mr Wren and I sat down in his office, looked at his calendar and realised that if we didn't go away that weekend we would end up not going anywhere at all this holiday. Now the Little Wrens and I are getting along fine but we all needed a change of scenery. So a hotel was found, train tickets were booked and we all had something to look forward to.

My soft spot for my old adoptive city is well documented - it is where I feel most at home. But the children too just LOVE London. We have always spent time with them there - my sister in law lives there, so that always makes things easier - but there is nothing quite like staying in a hotel in the centre of a city to really give you a taste of the metropolis. 

Master Wren would in all honesty be happy to ride around on the tube all day, but his choice of London landmark was a visit to The British Museum. Having studied the Egyptians at school last year he was very excited to see all of the ancient Egyptian relics. We saw actual mummies and tombs, the Rosetta Stone (which I was vaguely aware of but my encyclopaedic son explained "was the key to unlocking the meaning of hieroglyphics" - so there you go!) and even a preserved two thousand year old body (complete with hair and skin intact). It's a very special place, although I couldn't help wondering quite what all of those wonderful exhibits from around the World were doing in dear old Blighty. All of it presumably acquired during the grand days of the British Empire. Fabulous as it was to see it all, it does feel a bit like a very large and impressive exhibition of all that we have plundered from other nations. 

Our hotel was near St James' Park, so for dinner on Saturday night we wandered out past Scotland Yard through the grounds of Westminster Abbey, crossed the road in front of Big Ben and walked alongside the Houses Of Parliament, crossing the Thames at Westminster Bridge to reach the South Bank. So pretty unremarkable really! The South Bank itself had, as it does every Summer, given itself over to The Southbank Festival which this year took the theme of 'Love'. So after stuffing ourselves silly in Canteen, the children took a spin on the carousel and we all threw ourselves down the enormous family slides they had dotted around (see photo, top), before treating ourselves to an ice cream and taking a sundown stroll back to our hotel. 

Maxi Dress - American Vintage

Sunday began with breakfast with a view of Buckingham Palace in St James' Park followed by a quick tube ride (oh, happy boy!) to South Kensington and a wander around Miss Wren's museum of choice, the V&A. I love this place and spent many lazy hours as a student gazing longingly at the vintage Dior and Balmain dresses on display. So beautiful. Both children were fascinated by the fashion through the ages and were hypnotised by the jewellery exhibit. The dizzying display of diamonds left me feeling slightly giddy. They really are a girl's best friend. Or would be, if she could ever get her mitts on any!! Breathtaking!

We spent our last few hours in the capital in sunny Hyde Park, before heading to Paddington on our last legs to begin our journey home. We had a wonderful family weekend. 

In order to have as full a weekend as possible we caught the early train to London on Saturday morning. So we were all up at 7am and out the door before 8. Breakfast needed to be eaten on the train so on Friday evening I baked some healthy and sustaining muffins for our railway picnic. They were also very delicious. Here's the recipe....

30g unsalted butter

60g (two heaped tablespoons) honey

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsps crunchy peanut butter

2 large ripe bananas

150g light spelt flour

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Around 12 teaspoons raspberry jam.

12 hole muffin tin and cases

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C/ gas mark 5

Put the butter, honey and vanilla in a pan on a low heat to melt, then set aside. Mash the bananas.

In a large bowl, measure out the flour, bicarb, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Mix the peanut butter and bananas with the melted butter mixture and combine with the dry ingredients.

Line the muffin tin with the cases and fill them about half full. Dollop a scant teaspoon of jam in the centre of each, then top with the remaining batter (making sure that all jam is covered).

Put in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes. Eat warm ideally. Train optional.

Summer Fair - Name the Ted and Fresh Gingerbread

I've been AWOL again, I know. I'm sorry. But this post should help explain why. Last Saturday was the school Summer Fair and Sports Day that along with the rest of the PTA committee I was in charge of organising. It was a loooooonng day. Set-up began at 9am, stalls opened from 10.30 am and we weren't packed up until 5pm. But it was such a beautiful day too. Everything looked gorgeous - from the glistening tombola prizes, to the mountain of cake donations, from my hastily created Human Fruit Machine to the bunting that had been lovingly hand-sewn from old school summer dresses by a very talented friend of mine. The sun gazed down on us from morning 'til night and all day I was surrounded by the faces of smiling children. It was hard work, but absolutely worth it. Here are a few pics from the day. (Thanks to my friend, Alan for the beautiful photos)

Summer Breeze - sunshine, weddings & celebrations

Well, that's more like it! Summer sun all weekend and today. There's nothing like a bit of sunshine to make me feel that all is well with the world. I have had the most wonderful weekend. A beautiful Cotswolds wedding on the hottest day of the year, a world-beating first barbecue of the season and to top it all off another pretty major reason for my family to celebrate. Today's is a pic-heavy post!

Dress - Diane von Furstenburg, Jacket - Rag&Bone,
Bag - ASOS, Shoes - Shoemint.

My wedding outfit was a riot of colourblock (although, in 23 degree sunshine that jacket was a bit surplus to requirements). My jacket and dress were Yoox designer bargain finds and that bag was a half price ASOS steal (still available too - link here.

Rainy Day Rhubarb & Custard

Well, talk about a wet weekend! It was rainy or cloudy for most of Sunday and at the same time I was in a mildly hungover fug. These two facts combined meant that I had to spend the day eating my own weight in carbohydrates. It was fried eggs with toast and pancetta at brunch, and we had macaroni cheese for tea (is there any better hangover food than mac & cheese?). Around midday, my background headache like a pushy shopper elbowing their way to the front of the queue began forcing it's way to the foreground. I needed cake.

I found a bag of rhubarb at the bottom of the fridge that my Mother-In -Law had picked from her garden. Not quite enough for a crumble. So I googled 'rhubarb and custard cookies'. No luck. I did however find a recipe on the BBC Good Food Magazine website for a Rhubarb & Custard Cake. Boom! And off I went.

I posted a pic to Instagram and Facebook of the cake about to go into the oven and I've had loads of people asking me for the recipe. So here it is. It is incredible. I urge you to make it. It will make everything better.

Sunshine and Strawberries - here comes the weekend

Today has been a beautiful day and I was lucky enough to spend the whole morning outside in the sunshine. I have been busy assisting a very talented photographer (Aniko Towers - check out her website here) as she snapped the children at our school for the school calendar. They are wonderful children at a beautiful school and watching them relating to someone they don't know very well it's remarkable to see how well behaved they all are. These are good kids, but even so, witnessing the teachers' deft handling of them I couldn't help thinking that a career as a cat herder would be less challenging. I am exhausted. I have no idea how teachers do it calmly and patiently every day!

For everyone else out there who might also be flagging this Friday I thought I'd share with you one of my baking recipes. It's for a batch of Strawberry spelt muffins and they are sugar free, vegan and wheat free. Don't let that put you off, though - you would never know. These are divine - light and soft and sweetly delicate. A wonderfully indulgent feeling treat ideal for winding you down to the weekend.

This is the perfect recipe for when you've bought a punnet of disappointing early season or air-freighted strawberries. You know, when they are underripe and too firm and taste of nothing. Or even with the few that have gone a bit soft in the fridge. Somehow a little baking makes them more strawberry-ish. I reckon this would work pretty well with raspberries too.

In Search of Breakfast...

Hooray! It's Friday. I got there. And in a week when Mr Wren has been on a business trip (since Sunday and still not back - grrrr). And I got there without a single glass of wine and without the tiniest smidgen of sugar passing my lips. Unbelievable. Particularly the wine part.

It's actually fairly easy to avoid refined sugar most of the time.

Brownies and Bling - Mother's Day Treats

As I type this my house smells like Wonka's chocolate factory. It is incredible. The little Wrens have friends coming for tea, so I am baking brownies. For the kids, you understand, because I'm just selfless like that. I may have made a rather enormous batch. Well it is 'Stuff-Mother's-face-full-of-chocolate-Day' on Sunday and apart from the odd very sporadic weekend loaf by Mr Wren I am the only baker in this house so I need to make sure we (I) are chocolate-filled.

Here is that recipe - any Mother in her right mind would be thrilled to receive a box of these on Sunday. Heck, any Mother in her wrong mind would too!

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

Roasted roots and skater boots

Last night's dinner was delish. I originally got it from the Goop winter detox recipes and have been making it lots. I'm not on a detox, I just want to eat this. All the time. It's so simple - just a pile of roasted root vegetables (I used

The Wren Cooks Key Lime Pie

In my last post, I wrote of how my Mum was the inspiration for this blog. She named her much longed for home in France Nyth Y Dryw which is Welsh for The Wren's Nest. Not long after she died, my Dad gave me her Nyth Y Dryw note book in which she had jotted down some of her favourite recipes. It is such a precious gift - full of her scribblings and sketches. On Sunday, in between sobbing sessions I thumbed through it and decided to knock up one of our family's favourites. In tribute number two to Mum, I give you Wendy's Key Lime Pie.

Birthday Boy

Yesterday was Mr. Wren's birthday. I'm not going to tell you how old he is, because it's a year younger than me and that's just plain depressing. I gave him

Cookies and Carnage.

Yesterday, the little wrens had friends to play and so the perfect kids spaces I showcased on yesterday's blog are today looking just a little rough around the edges. Actually, I think the phrase I used was 'a complete tip' and

Food of Love

T-shirt - Zoe Karssen

'Tis the Feast of Saint Valentine Today, allegedly the most romantic day of the year. Although, quite when the notion of a £20 Meal for Two became the height of romanticism, I've no idea. I'm having fillet steak tonight and

Comfort Food.

Some meals just take you somewhere. They often aren't the grandest, most haute-cuisine of dishes, but they transport you to a place of comfort and familiarity. Last night, confronted with the last leftovers of a roast chicken, I made chicken croquettes. I had seen Michel Roux Jr. cooking his version on Food & Drink on BBC2 this week and so I searched the BBC website for the recipe. I added a little Dijon mustard to his recipe to give them a little kick.

As I stood there, mindlessly (but very messily) rolling these little cylinders of mashed potatoes, up to

Tea Break

I was at the gym again this morning and half an hour into exercise I had to stop as I could feel the beginnings of a migraine approaching. I came home to discover my undrunk morning cup of tea from breakfast time. So, by 9.30am I had a headache because I hadn't had my usual breakfast bucket of tea - that is a slightly worrying sign of my body's caffeine dependence. That February detox is going to hurt! In the meantime

Cosy eats

Well, so much for gentle zen-like yoga. I went to a Body Balance class yesterday morning and today I am completely incapacitated. I can't lift my arms above shoulder height! Agony! But having started the day in a state of mind-body alignment I continued with a day of pure eating (notwithstanding the multiple cups of tea and the 9pm aviation cocktail - nobody's perfect!).  Dinner last night was homemade minestrone soup. It's a regular feature in our house when I feel like we need a really nourishing, comforting supper - it's packed full of green veg and feels like it's doing you so much good. I very often cook it on hubby's return from a business trip as after a week of rich or exotic food something pure and tasty and warming is just perfect. I tend to just bung whatever I've got in the pot, but it is vaguely based on Nigella's minestrone recipe from her 'Kitchen' cookbook.